Federico Aguilar Alcuaz

2009 National Artist for Visual Art

Born on June 6, 1932 in Santa Cruz, Manila, Federico Aguilar Alcuaz was known for his gestural paintings and abstract tapestries. Alcuaz simultaneously pursued an Associate in Arts degree from San Beda College, and a Fine Arts degree from the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts, where he studied under National Artists Fernando Amorsolo and Guillermo Tolentino. He then went on to study law at the Ateneo de Manila University, where he graduated in 1955. That same year, a scholarship offered by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs allowed Alcuaz to pursue his studies at the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid.

In 1956, he moved to Barcelona, where he set up his studio and became a part of La Puñalada, an informal group of artists who were forerunners of modern and contemporary art in Spain and were exponents of “neofigurativism,” an expressionist revival of figurative art that served as a response to abstraction, and which emerged in the 1960s in Europe and the Americas.

Throughout his career, Alcuaz was the recipient of numerous illustrious awards such as the Spanish Premio Moncada (1957), the French Diploma of Honor at the International Exhibition of Art Libre (1961), and the Philippine Republic Cultural Heritage Award (1965). In 2009, he was awarded the title of National Artist for Visual Arts. Alcuaz passed away on February 2, 2011.

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